Are Mormons Christians?

“Wetalk about Christianity, but it is a perfect pack of nonsense… it is as corrupt as hell; and the Devil could not invent a better engineto spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century.” —John Taylor (3rd LDS Prophet), 1858, Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, p. 167

Why does the LDS Church of today seek to be included with “Christian” churches when Joseph Smith’s First Vision and the Book of Mormon claim these churches are “of the Devil”?

JOSEPH SMITH’S FIRST VISION:

Churches = “join none of them, for they were all wrong”

Creeds = “All…were an abomination in his sight”

Professors = “were all corrupt” (Joseph Smith History 1:18-19)

“And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil…” —1 Nephi 14:10, Book of Mormon

Did Jesus fail to preserve His True Church? “…I will build MY church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” —Matthew 16:18